UK Highlights Espionage Activities of Russian Submarines Near Britain

Latest Developments

Defense Secretary Says UK Tracked Russian Subs: UK Defense Secretary John Healey revealed on April 9 that the British armed forces, in cooperation with Norway and other allied nations, had tracked three Russian submarines off the British coast for over a month. Healey said that the purpose of the operation was to gather information about underwater infrastructure, including cables and pipelines. “Our armed forces left them in no doubt that they were being monitored, that their movements were not covert, as [Russian President Vladimir] Putin planned,” Healey said.
Details of the Russian Operations: According to Healey, two of the submarines originated from Russia’s Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research (GUGI), while the third was an attack submarine which “was meant to distract from the activities of the other two.” GUGI operates specialized surface and subsea vessels designed to survey underwater infrastructure and conduct missions on the ocean floor, including sabotage.
Putin Taking Advantage of Middle East Conflict: Healey stated that Putin was taking advantage of the conflict in the Middle East, believing his adversaries to be distracted. “We are not just exposing his covert operation, but we are saying to him that we recognize Russia as the primary threat to the UK and to NATO, and that we will not take our eyes off Putin,” said Healey.

FDD Expert Response

“This should come as no surprise; Russia is aggressively targeting NATO’s critical infrastructure on land, in the Baltic Sea, and in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Europeans need to carefully invest their 1.5 percent of GDP in ‘defense-related’ projects that prioritize protecting critical infrastructure like submarine cables.” — RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, Senior Fellow and Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation

“GUGI, which has dedicated seabed warfare capabilities, has long engaged in suspicious activity near undersea cables. Russia can use these vessels to place wiretaps or collect intelligence to support contingency planning to disrupt NATO communications in the event of war.” — John Hardie, Russia Program Deputy Director

“This successful partnership between NATO allies, the UK, and Norway, in tracking and ultimately disrupting Russia’s hostile activity is a timely reminder that NATO fulfills many critical functions for wider Western and US security, regardless of its absence from the Iran war. On another level, it remains deeply troubling that the axis of enemies of the West, most notably Russia, does not hesitate to resort to sabotage both on land and at sea. Sir Keir Starmer must use this evidence to make the case for more and better-targeted national security spending.” — Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Fellow